Jakarta governor Ahok sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy

Purnama was found ‘convincingly guilty of committing blasphemy’ [Bay Ismoyo/Reuters] The Muslim Times has a large collection of articles to refute Blasphemy Laws

Source: The Guardian

BY Kate Lamb in Jakarta and agencies

Shock sentence comes after hardline Islamist groups called for Christian official to be jailed for referencing Qur’an verse.

Jakarta’s Christian governor has been sentenced to two years in prison after a trial that was widely seen as a measure of religious pluralism in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as Ahok, was “found to have legitimately and convincingly conducted a criminal act of blasphemy, and because of that we have imposed two years of imprisonment”, the head judge, Dwiarso Budi Santiarto, told the court.

“As part of a religious society, the defendant should be careful to not use words with negative connotations regarding the symbols of religions, including the religion of the defendant himself.”